Contents

Background

At some point in the past, when it was discovered that a spy had infiltrated their village, Kitsuchi and another shinobi found Nanigashi, who had intercepted the spy but failed to capture him.[2]

Personality

Kitsuchi is a solemn, disciplined, adaptive and level-headed individual. He is calm under pressure, decisive when acting and assertive, making him a good leader. He also have a large amount of pride in himself and his daugther, believing them capable of turning the battle in the Allied Shinobi Forces's favour.[3] Though, like his daughter and Ōnoki, he does seem to have a rash side, witnessed when he snapped at Kurotsuchi to be quiet.[4]

Appearance

Kitsuchi is a very tall and brawny shinobi. He has dark eyes and short dark-grey-coloured hair as well as a beard and a bulbous nose. He wears the standard Iwagakure shinobi uniform with a left sleeve and a right lapel. He also wears the forehead protector of the Alliance in a bandanna style and bandages around his right arm. When he was younger, he did not have a full beard.[2]

Abilities

Having been appointed as the Second Division Commander of the Allied Shinobi Forces, Kitsuchi is a undoubtedly a highly skilled and competent shinobi. He is proficient enough to kill dozens of White Zetsu Army clones on his own, standing atop a hill of them during the Fourth Shinobi World War.[5] He is shown to possess considerable strength, punching Kinkaku some distance away, while the latter was clad in his six-tailed form.[6] Despite his large size, his speed appears to be on par with his might, as seen when saving Darui from the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's stomp.[7] In the anime, he showed capable taijutsu skill as well, able to slam two White Zetsu Army clones into submission.

Ninjutsu

Nature Transformation

Kitsuchi using Earth Release: Sandwich Technique.

Kitsuchi is highly proficient in the use of Earth Release techniques. A prominent use of this was to manipulate the terrain at large scales, when he used the Earth Release: Opening Earth Rising Excavation technique along with his daughter, exposing the entire part of the White Zetsu Army that was travelling under the surface;[8] later, along with an entire squadron aiding him, Kitsuchi managed to lower or raise the earth's terrain at will; a skill he used to trap the Ten-Tails in a enormous trench after it was revived.[9]

For direct combat, he is able to cover his fist, and possibly other parts of his body, in extremely hard rock, granting him a fiercer punch.[6] Kitsuchi specialises in the use of the Earth Release: Sandwich Technique, which allows him to create gargantuan rock formations, even larger than the colossal Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, to crush his foes — a technique which he claims to be the most powerful one in his arsenal. He is also capable of creating shelters and giant walls out of earth.[10][11]

Part II

Fourth Shinobi World War: Confrontation

Kitsuchi attacks Kinkaku.

For the Fourth Shinobi World War, he was appointed as the commander of the short-range battle division of the Allied Shinobi Forces. After Gaara's speech to rally the troops, Kitsuchi was seen leading his division out to battlefield alongside the other Commanders and their battalions which they eventually broke off from. Later, after the Alliance found out that the White Zetsu Army was moving underground, the Tsuchikage told them to inform Kitsuchi. After receiving the intel, Kitsuchi along with Kurotsuchiunearths the advancing Zetsu army, and then orders his division to attack. During the battle, Kitsuchi receives the order that he and his Division were to mobilise and back up the First Division. When he arrives he saves Darui by punching Kinkaku away from him with his armoured fist.

Kitsuchi fighting the statue.

After Kinkaku's defeat, he orders a number squads to get the shinobi away from the battlefield and the rest follow him. Later with the battle seemingly almost finished, he stands on a massive pile of defeated White Zetsu Army clones as he kills the last one. Tobi then arrives on the battlefield and summons the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path. Kitsuchi attempts to smash the statue with his strongest earth technique, however, the statue easily withstands the technique and releases a powerful blast of chakra which devastates the battlefield. He later rescues Darui who went to protect the remaining treasured tools after Tobi ordered the statue to step on both Darui and Shikamaru. Kitsuchi tells Darui that with nightfall, they would have to change their battle tactics as well as stay in close contact with headquarters. During the next day of battle Kitsuchi and his division were able to successfully defeat the Akatsuki forces that opposed them, and he, along with the remaining persons in his division, made their way to the battlefield where the jinchūriki were.

Fourth Shinobi World War: Climax

Kitsuchi and Iwa shinobi attack the Ten-Tails.

Upon his arrival, he announced that his division had also arrived and later stood alongside the other members of the Allied Shinobi Forces as they faced their opposition. With the battle strategy launched, and the battlefield shrouded in dust and Madara, Obito, and the Ten-Tails' vision obscured, Kitsuchi and a group of Iwa-nin use the Earth Release: Great Moving Earth Core technique to box the beast in, immobilising it. Faced with the beast again who easily escaped their first trap, Kitsuchi told Kakashi that if he had time to be scared, he had time to make chakra as they needed to be prepared for anything. Later, when the beast was about to fire a Tailed Beast Ball, Kitsuchi used an Earth Release technique to cause the beast to lose its balance and sent the attack off-course.

He later listened on as Shikaku imparted what would be his final battle strategy. Later, with the situation getting dire on the battlefield, he is contacted by Shikamaru, and requests that he teach the Alliance the hand seals used to perform the simplest of earthen defences intending to use the quantity of the shinobi using the technique to overwhelm the Ten-Tails' powerful Tailed Beast Ball. Realising Shikamaru's strategy, Kitsuchi teaches Shikamaru the seals to the technique. Kitsuchi and the other Iwagakure Earth Release users create more powerful barriers amongst the weaker ones in an attempt to slow down the oncoming Tailed Beast Ball. Worrying that the defences weren't keeping up, Kitsuchi watched on as a transformed Killer B stepped in to deflect the attack. Later watching on as Obito created a giant tree with in turn prepared to fire four Tailed Beast Balls, Kitsuchi looked on in horror noting that even if they were to erect earthen barriers again, they would be too late.

In Other Media

Video Games

In Naruto Shippūden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3, Kitsuchi is playable as a strolling character in Chapter 5 of the story mode. Also, Kitscuhi is an assist character to Chōji during his battle against the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.

In his Naruto: Shippūden episode 256 début, Kitsuchi's ponytail is depicted as being part of the material from his forehead protector instead of hair. His pupils are also larger than they appear in the manga and his nose also has a more angular rather than a bulbous shape. In subsequent episodes, however, both his nose shape and eyes have been corrected.

Curiously, Kitsuchi's lapel is on his left side, while most Iwa-shinobi wear it on the right.